[Two Ways] How to Record Gameplay on PC

"I play LOL every day, thinking it might be a good idea to record the games I played. I prefer a free gaming recorder for Windows 10. Any suggestions?"

Do you know that Windows 10 Xbox application provides game players with the gameplay recording ability to record gameplay on PC? Having grasped the operation of how to record gameplay on PC will surely promote your gaming skills, let others watch your uploaded recordings on YouTube or other online social platforms, and follow suit.

Likewise, at this particular time of global coronavirus pandemic, more and more people are joining the gaming camp, safely staying at home and playing games. For professional players and those crazy fans, the gameplay recording solution is regarded as indispensable. By recording all matches they played, along with voice/sound/ commentary, they can upload to the public eyes or do it for the purpose of archiving on their local drive.

Here you can set start and learn how to record gameplay on PC for free with Windows 10 Xbox game recording software and third-party game screen capture software that records yourself gaming video along with voice and audio.

How to Record Gameplay on PC with Windows 10 Xbox Game Recording Software

For most people, the best gameplay recorder is nothing extraordinary but ensures a smooth and enduring recording without lagging the computer. So, any time when you want to record gameplay video or take a game screenshot in Windows 10, the Xbox app is enough.

The overall steps are simple. First of all, you need to open the Xbox "Game Bar", which is part of the "Game DVR" feature. Next, try to get to know several hotkeys and the recording procedure will now become much easier.

Use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + G to open the Game Bar, it's the quickest way. Here, you'll see a pop up above the Xbox homepage/the game you're playing, asking if you really want to open the game bar for recording games. Click "Yes, it is a game", and then the game bar is evoked.

Step 3. Record Your Gameplay Video

There are four options available, including open an Xbox game, take a screenshot, record that, start record and open settings. Each option also matches with a keyboard shortcut. If you've made up mind to record a gameplay video, click the red button "Start Record" (Windows + Alt + R).

A timer will appear at the top-right corner of your game window while it's recording. To stop recording the window, press Windows + G to bring up the Game Bar again and click the red stop button. Additionally, some people would not be able to find the Game Bar. Changing your game window to the windowed mode will make it show up normally.

To take a game screenshot, hit the second "Screenshot" button, or press Windows + Alt + PrtScn.

Step 4. Find your recorded gameplay video

The default location is your user account's Videos\Captures folder. This is where Windows 10 saves all your video recordings as well as screenshots. You can also access the recordings within the Xbox app by navigating to Start > Game DVR. Under the "On this PC" tab, you can locate, view and open the recordings here. You can also check the shared ones and community's next to the "On this PC".

How to Record Gameplay on PC with Third-party Game Screen Capture Software

Xbox Game Bar is for Windows 10 gameplay recording. It's indeed very user-friendly, rich-featured and fluent. Nonetheless, it's not a unique solution.

For gamers who are with no Xbox ability to record gameplay, do not feel sad. There are many other third-party free screen recorders that facilitate the gameplay recording on PC. Among all the twenty pieces we've given a real test, we carefully select the top one that offers both online and downloaded options for all operating systems in recording gameplay of Xbox, Steam, etc.

It's Apowersoft Online Screen Recorder that we're talking about. Besides doing the same recording job with Xbox, the third-party game recording software can let you edit the final video recordings as well, such as crop, trim, add mosaic, add fascinating effects of texts, elements, filters, and BGM.

Though Apowersoft software is web-based, to ensure the most stable and smooth recording experience, the downloaded version works better than the online version. Thus, we would highly recommend you try the downloaded program to record gameplay on PC. The step-by-step guide to using Apowersoft free screen recorder to record your gameplay on PC is as follows.

Step 1. Launch the game you're about to record and then the downloaded Apowersoft recorder.

Step 2. Once you begin playing the game, click the "Start Recording" button to get started.

Step 3. Customize the recording mode and region and start recording. You can also choose to pause or stop the recording during the course of the gameplay.

Step 4. After saving the recorded gameplay video, you can directly save the video to a local disk or upload it to cloud storage, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Vimeo, and many other social platforms.